The Cult TV Book (Investigating Cult TV Series)

The Cult TV Book

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Series Editor: Stacey Abbott The Investigating Cult TV series is a fresh forum for discussion and debate about the changing nature of cult television. It sets out to reconsider cult television and its intricate networks of fandom by inviting authors to rethink how cult TV is conceived, produced, programmed, and consumed. It will also challenge traditional distinctions between cult and quality television. Offering an accessible path through the intricacies and pleasures of cult TV, the books in this series will interest scholars, students, and fans alike. They will include close studies of individual contemporary television show. They will also reconsider genres at the heart of cult programming such as science fiction, horror, and fantasy, as well as genres like teen TV, animation, and reality TV when these have strong claims to cult status. Books will also examine themes or trends that are key to the past, present, and future of cult television. Published and forthcoming in Investigating Cult TV series: Investigating Farscape by Jes Battis Investigating Alias edited by Stacey Abbott and Simon Brown Investigating Charmed edited by Karin Beeler and Stan Beeler The Cult TV Book edited by Stacey Abbott Dexter: Investigating Cutting Edge Television edited by Douglas L. Howard Ideas and submissions for Investigating Cult TV to [email protected] [email protected]

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The Cult TV Book Edited by

Stacey Abbott

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Published in 2010 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com

Selection and editorial matter copyright © 2010 Stacey Abbott Individual chapters copyright © 2010 Stacey Abbott, Sergio Angelini, Jes Battis, Stan Beeler, Miles Booy, Simon Brown, Bronwen Calvert, Jane Espenson, Dick Fiddy, Lincoln Geraghty, Janet K. Halfyard, Matt Hills, Nancy Holder, Catherine Johnson, Lorna Jowett, Roz Kaveney, Roberta Pearson, Denzell Richards, Hillary Robson, David Simmons, Sharon Sutherland, Paul Sutton, Sarah Swan, Donato Totaro, Rhonda V. Wilcox, Tat Wood

The right of Stacey Abbott to be identified as the editor of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978 1 84885 026 2

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

Printed and bound in the United States of America by Edwards Brothers, Inc.

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To my super cyber sibs – Glenn, Les, Jeff, and Jo – with all my love.

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Contents

Acknowledgments About the Contributors

Introduction:

‘Never Give Up – Never Surrender!’: The Resilience of Cult Television Stacey Abbott

x xii

1

Part 1 – Defining Cult TV: History, Aesthetics, Discourses Chapter 1 Chapter 2

Case Study: Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Observations on Cult Television Roberta Pearson Members Only: Cult TV from Margins to Mainstream Sergio Angelini & Miles Booy Twin Peaks – Miles Booy The Aesthetics of Cult Television Rhonda V. Wilcox Babylon 5 Sergio Angelini Playing Hard to ‘Get’ – How to Write Cult TV Jane Espenson The Twilight Zone Stan Beeler

7

19 28 31 41 45 55

Part 2 – Reading Cult TV: Texts and Contexts Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Case Study: Chapter 9 Case Study: Case Study:

The Avengers/The New Avengers Paul Sutton Mainstream Cult Matt Hills Grey’s Anatomy – Hillary Robson Transgressive TV Jes Battis Trailer Park Boys – Sharon Sutherland and Sarah Swan Masters of Horror – Donato Totaro

61 67 74 77 84 87

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Contents

Chapter 10 Case Study: Case Study: Chapter 11

Case Study: Case Study: Chapter 12

Innovative TV Stacey Abbott Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Stacey Abbott The Prisoner – Sergio Angelini Representation: Exploring Issues of Sex, Gender, and Race in Cult Television Lorna Jowett Angel – Lorna Jowett Battlestar Galactica – Bronwen Calvert Boldly Going: Music and Cult TV Janet K. Halfyard

91 100 103 107 114 117 121

Part 3 – Constructing Cult TV: The Broadcast Industry and Cult Television Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Case Study: Case Study: Chapter 15 Case Study: Chapter 16

Case Study: Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20

The Star Trek Franchise Lincoln Geraghty Cult TV and the Television Industry Catherine Johnson HBO and The Sopranos – Catherine Johnson The Quatermass Serials – Catherine Johnson Cult Channels: Showtime, FX, and Cult TV Simon Brown The X-Files – Simon Brown Through the Oblong Window: The Regulated Duopoly and the Creation of a Cult Children’s ‘Canon’ in Britain Tat Wood Bagpuss – Tat Wood Cult TV and New Media Denzell Richards Doctor Who Miles Booy Writing Tie-in’s Nancy Holder South Park David Simmons

131 135 148 150 155 163

167 175 179 189 191 199

Part 4 – The Cult in Cult TV: Audiences, Fans, and Fandom Chapter 21

Dark Shadows Stacey Abbott

205

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Contents

Chapter 22 Case Study: Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26

Television and the Cult Audience: A Primer Hillary Robson Da Ali G Show – Hillary Robson The Cult of Cult TV? Dick Fiddy Subcultural Celebrity Matt Hills Sapphire & Steel Sergio Angelini Gen, Slash, OT3s, and Crossover – The Varieties of Fan Fiction Roz Kaveney

Works Cited Television and Film Guide Index

209 221 225 233 239

243

248 260 268

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Acknowledgments

T

his book has been a huge endeavour both in its conception and construction and I therefore owe the greatest of thanks to all of the contributors who have made this such an enjoyable and rewarding experience. They have each been a joy to work with, bringing enthusiasm and professionalism to the project in equal measures. The strength of this book lies in their expertise. I would also like to thank Philippa Brewster and everyone at I.B.Tauris who have supported this project alongside the Investigating Cult TV series. Philippa in particular has been an often invisible but significant presence, shaping the growing field of television studies. Her support of my work has been boundless and for that I am in her debt. To fellow TV scholars David Lavery, Rhonda Wilcox, Janet McCabe, Kim Akass, Deborah Jermyn, Lorna Jowett, and Bronwen Calvert, thank you for the many hours of enthusiastic debate and discussion. It has always been a joy. Of course, one of the greatest challenges in developing this book has been keeping up to date with the vast array of new cult programmes that have continued to appear on TV. I would therefore like to thank Stan Beeler for his generosity in recording and sending me DVDs of any new and interesting cult shows that came on the air in North America but had yet to be broadcast in the UK, the best of which included Dexter, Pushing Daisies, and True Blood. On a similar note, I would like to thank Denzell Richards and Susie Hyde for recording key cult programmes off Sky1 when I lost the channel during the Virgin-Sky feud. Each of you have ensured that my knowledge of cult TV remained as up to date as possible. Thank you for the hours of pleasurable TV viewing. To my friends Sergio Angelini and Miles Booy, I owe a debt for their enthusiasm and encouragement as they offered numerous suggestions as to what types of television programmes should be included in the book. While I may not have included everything you suggested (Miles, I’m sorry Press Gang didn’t make the final cut), your knowledge and cult tastes are clearly felt in the final product and the book is better for it. I, of course, owe the greatest debt to my husband and partner Simon Brown. He not only contributed two excellent chapters but offered unending support during the long hours, weeks, months, and years of the book’s conception and birth – support which included watching hours of television, repeated discussions and debates over content and in the final days, practical and invaluable help compiling the Film and TV guide as well as editing the bibliography – not to mention repeatedly taking Max (our dog) out for walks while I finished my work (thanks to Max as well). I couldn’t have done it without

x

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Acknowledgments you both. As always, I owe a debt to my family for shaping the person I am and for their support over the years. My parents Stanley and Joan Abbott gave me the confidence to pursue my passion and it was from them that I gained my first-love, film. But it was with my siblings, Glenn, Leslie, Jeff, and Joanne, that I grew up watching and talking about television, from Star Trek to Seinfeld to Desperate Housewives. We haven’t always watched the same programmes nor have we always shared the same opinions but our conversations have been a great environment in which to exchange ideas as well as a few laughs. You mean the world to me. For this reason I dedicate this book to you.

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Contributors

Stacey Abbott is a Reader in Film Studies at Roehampton University. She is the author of Celluloid Vampires (University of Texas Press, 2007) and Angel (Wayne State University Press, 2009) and the Series Editor for the Investigating Cult TV series (I.B.Tauris) and has published on such favourite shows as Buffy, Alias, Angel, Firefly, Lost, and Ultraviolet. Sergio Angelini’s most recent publications include contributions to Dizionario dei Registi del Cinema Mondiale (Einaudi, 2005/2006), The Reference Guide to British and Irish Film Directors (BFI, 2006), Investigating Alias (I.B.Tauris, 2007), and the screenonline web resource. He is the television reviewer for Sight & Sound magazine and edits the educational quarterly Viewfinder. Jes Battis is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the City University of New York. He specialises in LGBT studies, fantasy literature, and popular culture and is the author of Investigating Farscape (I.B.Tauris, 2007). Stan Beeler teaches Film and Television Studies in the English Department at the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada. His publications include Reading Stargate SG-1 with Lisa Dickson, Investigating Charmed: The Magic Power of TV with Karin Beeler, and Dance, Drugs and Escape: The Club Scene in Literature, Film and Television Since the Late 1980s. Miles Booy has a PhD in Film Studies from the University of East Anglia. He lives in Stafford with his wife and son. He is currently researching and writing a monograph on Doctor Who fandom. Simon Brown is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at Kingston University. He is a keen biker, the author of numerous articles on early and silent cinema, as well as co-editor of Investigating Alias: Secrets and Spies (I.B.Tauris, 2007). Bronwen Calvert is an Associate Lecturer with the Open University in the North of England and Subject Area Leader in Literature at the Centre for Lifelong Learning in Newcastle upon Tyne, where she also teaches modern and contemporary fiction. Her research is on aspects of embodiment (especially kick-ass action heroines) in science fiction and fantasy narratives. Jane Espenson has been a television writer for the last sixteen years, writing for shows attracting both cult and non-cult audiences. She was on the writing staff of shows including Ellen, Gilmore Girls, The O.C., and Tru Calling and wrote a freelance episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She is especially proud of her work on Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly, and Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica. Jane is currently writing and producing the Battlestar Galactica TV movie ‘The Plan,’ to air after the conclusion of the series.

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Contributors Dick Fiddy is a TV Consultant working for the BFI. His TV work includes writing C4’s epic exploration of the small screen, TV Heaven. He is the author of Missing Believed Wiped: Searching for the Lost Heritage of British Television and was the Consulting Editor on the BFI’s Television Handbook. Lincoln Geraghty is Principal Lecturer in Film Studies and Subject Leader for Media Studies in the School of Creative Arts, Film and Media at the University of Portsmouth. He is author of Living with Star Trek: American Culture and the Star Trek Universe (I.B.Tauris, 2007) and American Science Fiction Film and Television (Berg, forthcoming), and the editor of The Influence of Star Trek on Television, Film and Culture (McFarland, 2008). Janet K. Halfyard is a Senior Lecturer at Birmingham Conservatoire (UK). Her publications focus on music in film and television, particularly in horror and fantasy genres, including Danny Elfman’s Batman : a film score guide and several essays on music and performance in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Matt Hills is a Reader in Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. He has published widely on cult media and fandom, and his most recent book on the subject is Triumph of a Time Lord (I.B.Tauris, 2009). Nancy Holder is a New York Times bestselling author (for Wicked: Witch and Curse, with Debbie Viguie). She has written tie-in novels, short stories, and episode guides for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Smallville, Hellboy, and other popular culture ‘universes.’ She lectures in the literature department of Eleanor Roosevelt College at the University of California and is a member of the Popular Fiction faculty for the Stonecoast MFA creative writing program at the University of Southern Maine. Catherine Johnson is Senior Lecturer in Television at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is the author of Telefantasy (BFI, 2005) and the co-editor (with Rob Turnock) of ITV Cultures (Open University Press, 2005). She is currently researching the history of branding in US and UK television. Lorna Jowett is a Senior Lecturer in Media and American Studies at the University of Northampton, UK, where she teaches some of her favourite things, including horror, science fiction, and television. She has published on gender and genre in horror and science fiction texts across television, film, and fiction. Roz Kaveney is a writer, poet, and activist living in London. Her works include From Alien to the Matrix, Teen Dreams, and Superheroes; she edited Reading the Vampire Slayer. Roberta Pearson is Professor of Film and Television Studies and Director of the Institute of Film and Television Studies at the University of Nottingham. She is the editor of Reading Lost: Perspectives on a Hot Television Show (I.B.Tauris, 2008) and author, co-author, and co-editor of numerous books and essays.

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Contributors

Denzell Richards lectures in Film at Roehampton University, where he is also completing his PhD thesis investigating texts on DVD and how audiences relate to and interact with the format. Hillary Robson is an adjunct faculty member in the department of English at Middle Tennessee State University. Her areas of scholastic interest are fandom and fan culture, and popular culture studies. She is a co-author of the books Saving the World: A Guide to Heroes, Lost’s Buried Treasures, and Unlocking Battlestar Galactica with David Lavery and Lynnette Porter, served as research assistant and contributor to Unlocking the Meaning of Lost: An Unauthorized Guide, and is co-editor of Grace Under Pressure: Grey’s Anatomy Uncovered. David Simmons has written and published material on a wide range of issues related to twentieth-century popular culture including the sixties’ countercultural movement, H.P. Lovecraft, the American Horror film, and contemporary genre television. He is currently editing an upcoming collection on the television series Heroes. Sharon Sutherland is Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law. She teaches mediation, negotiation, and contract law and practices as a child protection mediator. Sharon’s current research examines applications of drama and theatre to conflict resolution pedagogy and practice. Paul Sutton is Principal Lecturer in Film at Roehampton University. His research interests include film theory, the remake, and French and Italian cinema. He is currently writing a book for Blackwell Remaking Film: In History, In Theory. Sarah Swan is a lawyer and a graduate of the University of British Columbia law faculty. She has collaborated with Sharon Sutherland on a variety of topics related to law and popular culture, including essays on Angel, 24, and Alias. Donato Totaro has been the editor of the online film journal Offscreen (www. offscreen.com) since its inception in 1997. Totaro received his PhD in Film and Television from the University of Warwick (UK) and is a part-time lecturer in Film Studies at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada). He has published on recent Asian cinema, the cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky, and the horror genre. Rhonda V. Wilcox, professor of English, Gordon College, is editor of Studies in Popular Culture; co-editor of Critical Studies in Television and Slayage; author of Why Buffy Matters: The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2005); and co-editor of Fighting the Forces: What’s at Stake in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2002) and Investigating Firefly and Serenity (2008). Tat Wood has a First from the University of Hertfordshire and an MA in Cultural Studies of University of East London. He spent fifteen years writing for news-stand magazines with ‘TV’ or ‘Cult’ in the title and a series of books for the US market. His most recent grown-up work was in Time and Relative Dissertations in Space (University of Manchester Press, 2007). His secret identity is an A-Level tutor.

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Introduction: ‘Never Give Up – Never Surrender!’: The Resilience of Cult Television Stacey Abbott

I

n a now infamous Saturday Night Live sketch, William Shatner, star of the classic cult TV series Star Trek, told his fans to ‘get a life’. The humour of the sketch is based upon the fact that its depiction of the Trekkies/ers conformed to most people’s expectations of the Star Trek, or cult TV, fan – socially inept, dressed in costume, obsessed with trivia and unable to distinguish fantasy from reality. In the 1999 film Galaxy Quest – an affectionate parody of Star Trek, its cast and fans – something, however, appears to have changed. Much of the film’s humour continues to be derived from the overzealous fans who dress up like their favourite characters and know the inner workings and design of the show’s space ship, not to mention the actors who have made a career out of making public appearances at conventions and store openings. The film’s narrative surrounding a group of aliens who turn to the cast of the show for help against an alien aggressor, however, does serve to revalidate the cult TV fan and actor. Not only do the cast prove their worth by embracing the show’s ethos – ‘Never Give Up! Never Surrender’ – and working together to save the alien race but also draw upon the help and expertise of their cult fans. What begins as a send up of the cult television phenomenon ends as a vindication of TV fandom. This transformation captures a shifting attitude about cult television. Although cult TV was previously seen as the purview of socially awkward teenage boys (as portrayed by Justin Long in Galaxy Quest whose parents are just happy he has gone outside), it has now become an arena for a diverse range of audiences. Where once obsessive knowledge of a TV series’ fictional universe was the reserve of the science fiction (SF) geek, now fans of Seinfeld memorise dialogue while fans of Sex and the City and The Sopranos go on organised location tours of Manhattan and New Jersey. Fan conventions used to be seen as ‘freak shows’ for ‘has-been’ actors but now they are a crucial market for the networks and studios to premiere new programmes and to garner fan loyalty while the shows are still on the air. Networks might hope for the large broadcast figures associated with mainstream television, but they also want their shows to generate the audience commitment associated with cult TV. Loyalty not only

1

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The Cult TV Book

ensures that audiences tune in every week but also that they will buy the series DVDs, the tie-in CDs, the books, and fan magazines. The nature of cult television has changed as well. While in the past, cult TV was largely synonymous with telefantasy – fantasy, horror, and science fiction – now it crosses generic boundaries to include animation, teen dramas, police series, comedy, and children’s programming. Some would argue that cult TV has, of course, always been generically and culturally diverse. While the ‘Trekkie’ might be the stereotypical cult TV fan, fans of the 1960s series Dark Shadows (itself a generic hybrid – part soap/part horror) included middle-aged women and teenage boys and girls. While The Simpsons and Southpark may have set new standards for postmodern intertextuality, a popular characteristic of cult television, Hanna-Barbera’s The Flintstones contained numerous intertextual references to Hollywood – note appearances by Cary Granite and Stoney Carmichael – to The Beatles in the form of ‘Bug Music’ and to television. The Flintstones offered their own parody of the popular horror sit-com The Adams Family when Fred and Wilma met their new neighbours – The Gruesomes. Children’s television from Sesame Street and The Clangers to SpongeBob SquarePants has always had a loyal following among teenagers and adults. Finally, fans of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Black Adder take great pleasure in memorising and quoting dialogue. In fact, the cult of British comedy looms large in Canada and the United States and is made up of a niche but highly diverse audience who watch these programmes on specialised channels such as BBC World and PBS and who appreciate what makes British humour so distinct from more mainstream fare. Not all of these programmes are cult but they have over the years inspired cult practices and enthusiasm. All of this is less about whether cult television has changed (although as some of the chapters in this book will demonstrate it clearly has) and more about how cult TV is perceived and understood. As a result we need a new way of thinking about it, one that considers how the evolving broadcast and communications landscape of the past fifty years has affected cult TV and its audiences. The aim of this book is to open up discussions of cult television and raise questions about how we define it. The contributors to this volume, therefore, offer not one shared definition but rather a range of definitions that embody the scholarly, journalistic, industrial, and fan perspectives on the subject. While some might suggest that a term ‘that means everything means nothing’ (Pearson in this volume), the reality is, as this book will demonstrate, that this term actually contains an array of precise meanings and functions dependant upon the context of its use. To address this complexity, the book is broken up into four parts, each examining the different ways of defining and understanding cult TV both historically and within the contemporary media landscape. The first section

2

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Introduction

lays the groundwork for defining cult television and considers the subject in the light of growing debates around quality TV, suggesting that the lines between ‘Cult’ and ‘Quality’ are increasingly blurred. The second examines the cult text itself asking how these niche, often marginal, shows have repeatedly served to redefine and challenge TV conventions by pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable stylistically, narratively, and thematically. The third section addresses the role that the industry plays in our understanding of cult TV and explores how media developments – from the expansion of different media formats through which television is consumed to the rise of niche/’cult’ channels – have increasingly fostered a cult engagement with TV. The final section brings us back to the core aspect of cult television – its audience – by exploring the changing nature of fandom and its relationship to the industry. As a number of the authors in this volume suggest, the creators of our favourite programmes are themselves cult TV fans and that as a result the role of fandom has evolved. In tandem with these chapters, the book contains a series of brief case studies of individual TV shows. The choice of programmes is not designed to be a comprehensive history or canon but rather conceived to offer insight and understanding of cult television. All of the contributors to this volume have a scholarly or professional interest in cult television but they also share an enthusiasm for quality TV that captures their imagination and challenges our expectations, all of which is reflected in the chapters and arguments that follow. While the popularity and commercial viability of cult programmes may fluctuate based upon the idiosyncrasies of the broadcast climate, cult TV persists. Not all programmes will rise to the heights of The X-Files or Lost. Some such as Carnivale will quietly persevere for a couple years, or perhaps only one like Invasion, before cancellation cuts them short. Others such as Firefly and Wonderfalls will come to an end all too quickly, if only to be rediscovered on DVD. What all of these programmes, like the writers who nurtured them and the fans who loved them, have in common, however, is a shared resilience to the capriciousness of network television. Cult television persists because the creators and the fans keep fighting for their little, original, often challenging shows, never forgetting to ‘Never Give Up – Never Surrender!’

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Part 1 Defining Cult TV: History, Aesthetics, Discourses

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1

Observations on Cult Television Roberta Pearson

Defining Cult Television?

A

s the co-editor of a fairly recent book entitled Cult Television, I should have a ready definition of the term, but a term so universally applied both in and out of academia defies precise definition (Gwenllian-Jones and Pearson, 2004a). Many years ago, the faculty of Yale’s Department of Political Science, doing their best to transform me into a hard-headed social scientist, taught me that a term that means everything means nothing. An all-inclusive definition, they told me, lacks analytic utility, making impossible the fine distinctions requisite to rigorous scholarly analysis. As a tribute to that early training, and in a spirit of sheer bloody-mindedness, I’m tempted to persuade the reader that academics should entirely abandon the useless concept of cult television. I’m even setting an example in my own work. My book on Star Trek as television, co-authored with Maire Messenger-Davies, replaces the term cult with genre, the industry’s preferred term for science fiction and fantasy programmes. Unfortunately, abandoning the term ‘cult’ works for me, but not for others; it makes sense from an intellectual perspective, but not from a pragmatic one. The University of Minnesota Press wanted a readily recognisable and marketable title for my anthology as does I.B.Tauris for this very volume. It’s not only publishers who love a succinct and catchy title; Brunel University has recently launched an MA in cult film and television and where Brunel has gone others may follow. As a quick Google will show, the term ‘cult television’ flourishes beyond the confines of academia in the virtual world and, by implication, in the ‘real’ world. Such pragmatic considerations insuring that cult television will remain on the academic agenda for quite some time, it would be a good thing to have some vague idea of what we’re all rabbiting on about. In our introduction, my co-editor, Sara Gwenllian-Jones, and I assayed a definition, although its inclusivity violates the social-science principle drilled into me in my youth: ‘In the media, in common usage, and sometimes even in academia, “cult” is often loosely applied to any television programme that is considered offbeat or edgy, that draws a niche audience, that has a nostalgic appeal, that is considered emblematic of a particular subculture, or that is considered hip’ (2004b: ix). This definition accorded with film studies’ use of cult to refer to marginalised films that were perceived as trashy or, worse, offensive (due to violent or sexual content), that were hard to see (at least in pre-internet days),

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The Cult TV Book

and that were treasured by a core group of aficionados who kept moving the goalposts to insure the rarity of what they valued. Cult film was pretty much what cult film fans said it was, film scholars had concluded. As I said in an article contrasting cult film with cult television, The common characteristic is found not in the texts but in their viewers; most commentators on cult cinema agree that the films elicit an excessive devotion which Mendek and Harper refer to as ‘a ritualistic form of near obsession’: ‘The cult film draws on a (hard) core of audience interest and involvement which is not just the result of random, directionless entertainment-seeking, but rather a combination of intense physical and emotional involvement’ (2000: 7). The mode of reception, rather than the mode of production or textual characteristics, seems best to define cult film. (Pearson, 2003) Audiences, their activities, and the industry’s exploitation thereof should be similarly central to any conception of cult television. A few pages after Gwenllian-Jones and I provided our all-purpose definition, we concluded that ‘cult television ... caters to intense, interpretative audience practices’ (2004: xvi). Focusing on audience practices, we believed, kept us from becoming mired in the endless subjective entanglements of interpretive analysis that a text-based definition would entail. Mark Jancovich and Nathan Hunt, in a book published the same year as ours, agreed that our understanding of cult television should be predicated on audience practices, not textual characteristics. Cult TV is defined not by any feature shared by the shows themselves, but rather by the ways in which they are appropriated by specific groups. There is no single quality that characterizes a cult text; rather, cult texts are defined through a process in which shows are positioned in opposition to the mainstream, a classification that is no more coherent as an object than the cult and is also a product of the same process of distinction that creates the opposed couplet mainstream/cult. (2004: 27) Non-academic sources concur that audiences determine cult status. Take for example, Wikipedia, which, despite our deploring our students’ use of it, acts as a handy indicator to the wisdom of crowds. ‘Cult television ... attracts a band of aficionados or appreciators, known as a cult following, devoted to a specific television series or fictional universe.’ The entry goes on to offer four more definitions; a series that has a ‘strong loyal audience’; a series that ‘encourages its viewers to do more than just sit and watch it’; ‘any series that has achieved a moderate level of popularity, but not a large one’; and ‘any unpopular or obscure series’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Cult_following).1 One of the premiere cult television websites in the United Kingdom also points to audiences and their behaviours, telling us that cult

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Observations on Cult Television

shows ‘attract a fanatical following. They have something that fascinates their acolytes who view favourite shows time after time without diminution of enjoyment’ (http://fp.culttv.plus.com./ukcultv/whatis/html). Cult programmes are constructed in relationship to a putative, but never very well-defined, mainstream. Jancovich and Hunt state that audiences position their cult favourites ‘in opposition to the mainstream.’ In speaking of niche audiences and sub-cultures, Gwenllian-Jones and I implied the non-mainstream, as do the Wikipedia and cult TV website definitions. Brunel says that its cult film and television MA is ‘taught by internationally recognised researchers in the field of alternative, oppositional and non-canonical screen cultures’, in other words, the field of non-mainstream screen cultures.2 Underpinning the mainstream/non-mainstream binary, at least for the academics, is Bourdieu’s concept of distinction, a robust explanation for sub-cultural activities much utilised by scholars in their empirical investigations of cult television fandom (1984). Justified from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, scholars have predicated their understanding of the cult television phenomenon upon marginality; cult shows attract loyal fans but in fewer numbers than the more highly rated shows that constitute the mainstream.

Cult Television as Industry Bellwether Recent developments, however, threaten this consensual agreement.3 ABC languished at the bottom of the network league table until acquiring the mega-hit Lost, while NBC’s flagging fortunes were boosted, if not reversed, with Heroes and HBO finally seems to have found its long-sought Sopranos’ replacement in vampire-fest True Blood. Their complex narratives and elaborate mythologies resembling those of The X-Files or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, these shows may signal a fundamental reconfiguration of the American television industry – the mainstream as the new cult. Not having marginality as a defining criteria poses theoretical and empirical dilemmas for cult television scholars. In compensation, the mainstreaming of cult encourages a historical perspective, leading us to investigate the ways in which cult programmes have played major roles in industry transformations. Take, for example, the fount and origin of all things cult (at least in the United States), Star Trek.4 The original series (ST: TOS) was, according to executive producer Herb Solow, ‘not a big deal to NBC’ (2005). In the classic network era, or TV1 (roughly the 1950s through the 1970s), sheer numbers determined a programme’s fate, as each network sought to attract the one-third of the audience that ensured the stability of the network system. ST: TOS fell short of this mark and was cancelled but during its three years on air generated plenty of what would now be called audience buzz. In the first season 29,000 viewers, described by NBC as ‘decision makers’, wrote fan letters. When NBC threatened cancellation in

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1967, 115,893 letters of protest deluged its mailrooms (Messenger-Davies and Pearson, 2007: 218). The younger, hipper viewers who had embraced ST: TOS were from the same demographically desirable audience segment that would later ensure the survival of other innovative, but relatively poorly rated, programmes such as Hill Street Blues. ST: TOS was a show before its time, presaging the niche broadcasting of the future TV2 (roughly the 1980s and the 1990s) that would also give rise to quality television, about which more below. The letter writers were the Trekkers who kept Star Trek alive and who might be credited with initiating American cult television fandom. Paramount executives, impressed with the fans’ dedication and, more importantly, with their disposable income, revived Trek in film form in 1979. The success of the film franchise, together with ongoing fan activities such as conventions, persuaded the studio to similarly resurrect Trek television in 1987. The Next Generation’s (ST: TNG) success in first-run syndication, that is, not going out in prime-time on ABC, CBS, or NBC, proved that a one-hour drama could flourish without support from the big three, a crucial step in the demise of the classic network era. ST: TNG’s success also led directly to three offspring, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. Like its parent, the middle child, Voyager, the flagship show on Paramount’s 1995-launched United Paramount Network (UPN), helped to usher in the post-network TV2. By the time the youngest child, Enterprise, premiered in 2001, UPN was struggling to survive, the newest Trek’s dismal ratings performance not helping its chances. Having lowered the licence fee to keep Enterprise on life-support through the fourth season necessary to produce enough episodes for syndication, the studio finally pulled the plug in 2005. While NBC had considered ST: TOS’s cancellation no big deal, the death of Enterprise, the heart of what was by now a far-flung, multi-million dollar franchise encompassing everything from theme parks to novels, was a very big deal indeed for Paramount. Said a press release, ‘All of us at Paramount warmly bid goodbye to Enterprise and we all look forward to a new chapter of this enduring franchise in the future’ (2005). The most prominent new chapter took the form of a feature film, Star Trek XI, which garnered Paramount Pictures critical acclaim and box-office success in May 2009. A sequel has been green-lighted. CBS Paramount, which inherited the Trek television rights in the break up of media giant Paramount Viacom, is in the meantime seeking other profit points by adapting the franchise to the digital TV3 era; current developments include a site in Second Life and a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (see Geraghty on the Star Trek franchise in this volume). Cult-like shows, with their capacity to proliferate revenue streams across multiple platforms, are of increasing value to studio and network executives dealing with the fragmented and fickle audiences of the TV3 environment.

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Fan studies has established that cult fans are more likely to engage in repeat viewing and to purchase DVDs and licensed products, as J.J. Abrams’ Alias has shown. Referring to the show as ‘cult-fave spy-fi drama’, the Hollywood Reporter said that it ‘was among the first of a new breed of TV series that can be sustained for multiple seasons of modest primetime numbers on the strength of such ancillary businesses as DVD sales and video games’ (Anon, 2005). Alias, a cult show, served as a bellwether of the television industry, as has Lost, Abrams’ next project. But should Lost, despite its complex narrative and elaborate mythology, be called cult? In its first season, it attracted upward of 20 million plus viewers per episode, many more than the ‘modest primetime numbers’ of Alias or most other predecessors (Elber, 2007). In its seventh and last season (2002–2003), Buffy, for example, often ranked below 100th place and in 2003 achieved a highest rating of five, representing approximately five per cent of all households. But media commentators, not perplexed by the theoretical niceties that plague television scholars, do call Lost cult. The BBC referred to it as ‘the cult US drama series’ (Anon, 2006a). The ABC news website, commenting on the show’s precipitous ratings drop, compared it to the undoubtedly cult The X-Files. The show was smart and intriguingly spiked with supernatural and sci-fi twists. It featured hot new stars who graced glossy magazine covers until the ratings tumbled. So much for ‘The X-Files’, which enjoyed a nine-year run before misguided plots and a time slot change eroded its appeal. Flash forward to today and you’ll find its counterpart in ‘Lost’, another spooky, cerebral, sexy show which may end up killed off before its time. (Elber, 2007) According to co-producer Damon Lindelof, the cultish elements identified by these and other media commentators are there by deliberate intent: ‘We were aiming for that Alias type audience. We knew it was a little bit weird. It has a huge cast, it’s serialised, and it requires the audiences’ attention. It’s everything procedural crime drama’s aren’t’ (Armstrong, 2005: 30). From an industrial perspective, Lost is definitely cult, designed as such by its producers and recognised as such by industry insiders. Like its more marginal predecessors, Lost, a mainstream hit with a cult sensibility, has been at the forefront of industry innovations.5 Apple and Disney struck a deal to make Lost one of the first programmes available for downloading to the new visual i-Pod. Television Week reported, ‘In one fell swoop, The Walt Disney Co. was transformed ... from the staid media company it had been known as under former Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner into a technologically innovative first mover under current CEO Robert Iger, according to many technology analysts’. Michael McGuire, research director at technology consulting firm Gartner, is quoted in the article as saying, ‘This

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is an inkling of the steps of large media companies coming to grips with the issue of broadband distribution’ (Sherman, 2005: 26). Lost has also been in the vanguard of what television scholars have dubbed trans-media storytelling, the expansion of a fictional universe across multiple platforms. In the summer of 2006, ABC launched The Lost Experience, an online, interactive, live roleplaying game which the website said would take ‘Lost fans on an expansive, international Easter egg hunt through websites, commercials, emails, phone numbers, and more, in search of pieces to a larger puzzle, a puzzle which, when solved, will enlighten Lost fans to some of the show’s deepest mysteries!’ (www.thelostexperience.com/). In the autumn of 2007, Lost producers further expanded the fictional universe through a series of mobisodes, Lost: Missing Pieces, first made available via Verizon Wireless and then uploaded to the Lost website. Executive producer Carlton Cuse said that the mobisodes weren’t a mini version of the show but instead provided viewers with additional information (cited in Gough, 2007). Since ABC did not broadcast any new episodes until the beginning of 2008, these mobisodes served to keep the audience engaged. Delaying its fourth season premiere to 2008 defied the previous rules of the American television industry, in which shows customarily begin in the autumn, as does producing only sixteen episodes per season and announcing the definitive end date, 2010, for the series.6 Lost’s producers are highly attuned to the new and changing demands of TV3, as were Star Trek’s to those of TV2. Again, cult television makes television history. Attracting much bigger audiences than cult hits such as Buffy while demonstrating the neat fit between a cult sensibility and the multiple profit points of TV3, Lost has dragged cult into the mainstream and motivated that imitation which is the sincerest form of flattery. Premiering in 2006, Heroes, a glossier version of cult favourite The 4400, achieved top ratings, encouraging in its turn the networks to commission more cult-like shows. Said The New York Times, ‘The popularity of “Heroes” ... is widely thought to be the inspiration for the escapist trend for next season.’ ‘Almost a dozen’ of the ‘new shows will conjure up elements of science fiction, fantasy or the supernatural. The casts of characters include vampires, clairvoyants and immortals, some of whom can revive the dead or travel through time’ (Elliot, 2007). Judging on past performance, even the undead may have little chance of surviving to a second season. Several Lost-inspired serialised dramas, including The Nine, Kidnapped and Vanished, premiered alongside Heroes but lasted only a single season. Said Kevin Downey in industry journal Media Life, The problem, say media buyers, is that dramas with ongoing storylines demand of viewers a much higher level of commitment, and it’s turned out to be a level very few are willing to make. The thinking was that viewers, once hooked, would record shows they missed and visit the internet to learn what they missed. But

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the hooking never took place. In place of serialized dramas, the networks will be rolling out an array of more traditional dramas, comedies and reality shows that neatly wrap up storylines in an hour or less. (Downey, 2007) Lindelof and Abrams may have designed Lost to be ‘everything procedural crime drama’s aren’t’, but the networks are gambling that many viewers prefer storylines wrapped up in an hour or less to the intense, interpretive practices and dedication required by the cult-like Lost and Heroes. Lost’s shrinking audience numbers may confirm the networks’ intuition. The show has not managed to sustain its initial buoyant ratings; from the high of 20 million plus in its first season it descended to a low of 12.8 million in February 2007. Veteran network executive Tom Nunan believes that ‘whenever you get outside one of the big three franchises – cops, doctors or lawyers – and into the more high-concept shows, they tend to burn bright but burn out faster’ (cited in Elber, 2007). Heroes too is in trouble, although media analyst John Rash attributes its difficulties to an industry-wide problem: ‘A repeat of Heroes was the lowest rated show on the big four nets last night [August 20, 2007]. This is less of a reflection on TV’s surprise smash last year and more indicative of how the two-episode business model for networks is just no longer tenable television strategy’ (The Rash Report, 2007).7 Like Lost, Heroes intended to experiment with new scheduling formats suited to TV3’s viewing habits. Lost will offer fewer episodes in a curtailed season; Heroes intended to offer more episodes in an extended season. NBC’s plan was to end Heroes 24-episode second season in mid-April 2008, before the May sweeps. The mini-series spin-off Heroes: Origins was meant to follow it in late April and May. Origins – which, according to Heroes’ creator Tim Kring, is ‘an anthology series, a rarity in modern broadcast network television’ – would consist of six stand-alone episodes not tied to the series narrative arc, that is, more neatly wrapped up storylines (Ain’t It Cool, 2007). NBC had commissioned Origins, hoping to offer viewers a total of 30 Heroes episodes in 2007–2008 as part of a new scheduling policy. Said NBC president Kevin Reilly, ‘We’ve got something I call the “bulk-up challenge” for next year, which is trying to stay more consistent in our scheduling for the audience’ (cited in Porter, 2007). But this plan, like many others, came a cropper as a result of the 2007–2008 writers’ strike, which reduced Lost’s episodes from the planned 16 to 14 and put Origins on indefinite hold. Despite the airing of fewer episodes than originally planned, Lost regained its favourable buzz in its fourth season, while Heroes’ second season proved so disappointing that creator Tim Kring personally apologised to viewers. Maybe cult cycles in and out of the mainstream depending on the success of its current incarnations. Some would argue that The X-Files rivals Lost’s mainstream status. It was the first of the underdog Fox Network’s shows to break into the

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Nielsen top 25. Fourth season episodes averaged more than 19 million viewers and one episode attracted 29 million, higher than Lost’s best figure (although channel proliferation has generally depressed ratings per episode below those of the early 1990s) (The X-Files Compilation). Like Lost, the show generated huge media buzz and a host of imitators, which, like Lost’s, mostly failed. But, after The X-Files, cult once more retreated to the margins until Lost returned it to the media spotlight. Both Heroes and Battlestar Galactica became media phenomena while both Abrams’ Fringe and Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse have been renewed for a second season, despite the latter’s low ratings. A theory of genre and the zeitgeist might explain cult as a cyclical phenomenon. Such speculation is beyond the remit of this chapter, but see Matt Hills in this volume for more on mainstream cult.

Cult Television and Quality Lost’s producers might prefer the show to be called quality rather than cult. Despite Lindelof’s flaunting the show’s cult credentials, some of his colleagues dislike the label. Said ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson, ‘I’m constantly telling [the producers] “Character, character, character.” If you just had the machinations of the mythology it would be a cult show’ (cited in Cotta Vaz, 2005: 32). Executive producer Carlton Cuse credits the show’s wide appeal to the characters’ backstories: ‘The flashback stories are the emotional core of the series and give a much broader audience access. There’s a genre audience that enjoys the mythology, but the broader audience wants to know more about the characters and the flashbacks and go back to the seminal events in their lives’ (cited in Cotta Vaz, 55). These comments, made in the first season, in retrospect seem to anticipate the show’s dramatic decline in audience numbers, as the ever-more elaborate machinations of the mythology not only frustrated the hard-core fans but also drove away more casual viewers. McPherson and Cuse know that producing a break-away hit in the fragmented audience environment of TV3 requires amalgamating audience segments; cult fans may sustain a show such as Alias by consuming its ancillary products but their numbers are too small to elevate a show to the top of the Nielsens. The president’s and the producer’s emphasis on character seemed aimed at the quality audience, which, although different, undoubtedly overlapped with the cult audience. The final section of this chapter explores the connections between cult and quality. Quality is an even more elusive term than cult, inherently founded upon arbitrary taste judgments. The wisdom-of-crowds Wikipedia tells us that quality television is a ‘term used by television scholars, television critics, and broadcasting advocacy groups to describe a genre or style of television programming that they argue is of higher quality, due to its subject matter

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or content’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_television). Television critics and broadcasting advocacy groups may judge quality according to their own tastes, but television scholars need to rise above personal preferences and attend to industry and audience practices. Quality television began as a niche-broadcasting phenomenon aimed at the ‘right’ demographics, that is, viewers with the educational capital to respond to quality programmes’ literary aesthetics and with the economic capital to purchase products offered by the sponsors. Quality audiences, like cult audiences, position their tastes outside a perceived mainstream and actively support their favourite shows. In 1983, when CBS cancelled Cagney and Lacey, its fans, like the Trekkers before them, staged a letter-writing campaign which persuaded the network to give the show another chance. This achievement inspired the 1984 founding of Viewers for Quality Television, which successfully fought to continue other low-rated quality shows. But by 2000, a decline in membership made the organisation no longer financially viable. Dorothy Collins Swanson, president of VQT, said that the internet had made the group redundant: ‘There was a time when campaigning for a show had meaning, but because it can now be done with a click of a mouse it really has lost its specialness’ (cited in ‘Viewers for Quality Television Closes Shop’). But in an era when an entire network consciously opposed the mainstream in the famous slogan ‘It’s not TV, it’s HBO’, the increasing centrality of quality programming to industry strategy may also have rendered VQT superfluous to need. Like cult, quality has gone mainstream, a phenomenon commented on by numerous journalists including The Observer’s Paul Harris: ‘In a medium often derided as Hollywood’s less talented little brother, mainstream US TV has suddenly been swamped by an unprecedented wave of critically acclaimed dramas. TV is now attracting Hollywood stars and directors to produce edgy and sophisticated programmes that used to be the preserve of the movie studios’ (2006).8 Of course, many cult fans would assert that edginess and sophistication have long been the preserve of cult television; cult and quality are constructed through similar rhetoric. This wave of critically acclaimed dramas to which Harris refers was the culmination of a trend that began in the 1970s, most conspicuously with the MTM Enterprises production company that gave the world The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, and other critical hits (Feuer, Kerr, and Vahimagi, 1985). Cult programmes have played a role in the quality trend. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has never showered Emmys on cult shows (except in technical categories), but some taste arbiters have admitted the odd one into the quality canon.9 VQT named The X-Files as the ninth best quality drama of the 1990s and bestowed its Founders Award upon Buffy. In 2005, Time Magazine proclaimed Battlestar Galactica the television show of the year: ‘The writing and performances are first-class, especially Edward James Olmos as the noble but authoritarian commander in charge of saving

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the last remnants of humanity. Laugh if you want, but this story of enemies within is dead serious, and seriously good’ (Poniewozik, 2005). Scholars have argued that some cult programmes bear quality hallmarks. Twin Peaks, the first show deliberately designed to appeal to the cult audience, came trailing clouds of quality associated with the cinematic auteur David Lynch and the televisual auteur Mark Frost, who had worked on Hill Street Blues. Linda Ruth Williams points to the show’s ‘textual thickness’ and its ‘endlessly interpretable text’, attributes often seen as characteristic of quality (Williams, 2005: 43). Catherine Johnson argues that The X-Files ‘can be understood as a new kind of quality television that emerges in the early 1990s – “quality/cult” television’ (Johnson, 2005b: 56). She continues, ‘the series’ sophisticated scripts, complex multilayered narratives, and visually expressive cinematography, combined with its exploration of contemporary anxieties concerning late capitalism [are] characteristic of quality television’ (61). Cult television fans position themselves against the mainstream partly by arguing for the quality of their programmes. At the Cult TV Weekender organised by Britain’s Cult TV website, topics for debate in the nightly discussion group have included ‘In Search of Quality Television’.10 Academics have commented on cult fans’ embrace of the signifiers of traditional literary quality. Jancovich and Hunt tell us that ‘cult fandom ... often employs reading strategies that are specifically based on the privileging of form over function that distinguishes bourgeois taste’ (2004: 28). Among these reading strategies are privileging ‘ideas, characters, and the arc story lines of television series over special effects’, (33–34) which ‘places an emphasis on the literary values associated with legitimate culture’ also associated with ‘the tracing of literary reference and origins’ (35). Petra Kuppers makes similar observations about Babylon 5 fans (2004: 45–60). Matt Hills argues that episode guides ‘construct a corpus of canonical televised episodes, allowing for comparative aesthetic evaluations and the attribution of discourses of “quality” to cult TV series’ (2005b: 192). The implication of a show meriting an episode guide is that it ‘displays culturally valued criteria of aesthetic development, complexity and coherence’ (193). Fan fiction, far from being oppositional or resistant, caters to reading strategies that value canonicity, characterisation, and coherence.

Conclusion This chapter began by arguing that cult television is bestcience Fiction on the Frontier, London and New York: I.B.Tauris, 1–11. Williams, Linda Ruth (2005) ‘Twin Peaks: David Lynch and the Serial-Thriller Soap’, in Michael Hammond and Lucy Mazdon (eds) The Contemporary Television Series, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Williams, Raymond (1974) Television: Technology and Cultural Form, London: Fontana. Wilson, Leah (ed.) (2008) Grey’s Anatomy 101: Seattle Grace, Unauthorized, Dallas: Benbella. Wood, Tat, and Lawrence Miles (2004–2007) About Time: The UnAuthorised Guide to Doctor Who, Six Volumes, Des Moines: Mad Norwegian Press. YouTube – Broadcast Yourself. Available at: http://www.youtube.com. Accessed 30 August 2007. Zicree, Marc Scott (1982) The Twilight Zone Companion, New York: Bantam. Zicree, Marc Scott (1992) The Twilight Zone Companion, Los Angeles: SilmanJames Press. Zinder, Paul (2007) ‘Sydney Bristow’s “Full Disclosure”: Mythic Structure and the Fear of Motherhood’, in Abbott and Brown (eds), Investigating Alias: Secrets and Spies, London and New York: I.B.Tauris, 40–53.

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Television 24 (Fox, 2001–) 30 Rock (NBC, 2006–) 1984 (BBC, 1954) 4400, The (Paramount Network Television, 2004–2007) Ace of Wands (ITV, 1970–1972) Adams Family, The (ABC, 1964–1966) Adventures of Robin Hood, The (ATV 1955–1957) Alias (ABC, 2001–2006) Alien Autopsy: (Fact of Fiction?) (Fox, 1995) All in the Family (1971–1979) Ally McBeal (Fox, 1997–2002) American Gothic (CBS, 1995–1996) America’s Next Dance Crew (MTV, 2008) An Age of Kings (BBC, 1960) Andy Pandy (BBC, 1950) Angel (WB, 1999–2004) Army Wives (ABC, 2007–2008) Avengers, The (ITV, 1961–1966) Babylon 5 (PTEN, 1994–1997; TNT 1998) Bagpuss (BBC, 1974) Battlestar Galactica (NBC, 1978–1979) Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi, 2004–2009) Battlestar Galactica: Razor (Sci-Fi, 2007) Beauty and the Beast (CBS, 1987–1990) Beavis and Butthead (MTV, 1993–1997) Beverley Hillbillies, The (CBS, 1962–1971) Beverley Hills 90210 (Fox, 1990–2000) Bewitched (ABC, 1964–1972) Big Brother (C4, 1999–) Bill, The (ITV, 1984–) Black Adder (1983–1999) Blake’s 7 (BBC, 1978–1981) Bleak House (BBC, 2005) Blue Peter (BBC, 1958–) Bonanza (NBC, 1959–1973)

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Boris the Bold (BBC, 1972) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (WB, 1997–2001; UPN, 2001–2003) Cagney and Lacey (CBS, 1982–1988) Californication (Showtime, 2007–). Carnivale (HBO, 2003–2005) Charmed (WB, 1998–2006) Chuck (NBC, 2007–) Clangers, The (BBC, 1969) Commish, The (ABC, 1991–1995) Corner, The (HBO, 2000) Criminal Minds (CBS, 2005–) Cruise of the Gods (BBC, 2002) Crystal Tipps and Alistair. (BBC/Q3, 1972) CSI (CBS, 2000–) Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO, 2000–) Da Ali G Show (C4, 2000–2002, HBO, 2002–2004) Daily Show, The (Comedy Central, 1996–) Dark Shadows (ABC, 1966–1971) Dancing with the Stars (ABC, 2005–) Danger Man (US title Secret Agent) (ITV, 1960–1961, 1964–1967) Danger Mouse (ITV, 1981–1992) Dark Angel (Fox, 2000–2002), Davy Crockett (ABC, 1954–1955) Dawson’s Creek (WB, 1998–2003) Dead Famous (Living TV, 2004–2006) Deadwood (HBO, 2004–2006) Desperate Housewives (ABC, 2004–) Dexter (Showtime, 2006–) Doctor Who (BBC 1963–1989; 2005–) Dollhouse (FOX, 2009–) Dragnet (NBC, 1951–1959) Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (online, 2008) Eli Stone (ABC, 2008–) Ellen (ABC, 1994–1998) Enterprise (UPN, 2001–2005) ER (NBC, 1994–2009) Extras (BBC, 2005–2007) Family Guy (FOX, 1999–2002, 2005–). Father Ted (C4, 1995–1998)

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Farscape (Sci-Fi, 1999–2003) Fear Itself (NBC, 2008–) Femme Nikita, La (USA Network, 1997–2001) Fingerbobs (BBC/Q3, 1973) Firefly (FOX, 2002) Flintstones, The (ABC, 1960–1966) Flower Pot Men (BBC 1952) Friday Night Lights (NBC, 2006–) Friends (NBC, 1994–2004) The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (NBC, 1990–1996) Fringe (Fox, 2008–) Gangsters (BBC, 1975–1978) Gargoyles (Buena Vista Television, 1994–1996) Ghost Whisperer (CBS, 2005–) Gilmore Girls (WB/CW, 2000–2007) Good Times (CBS, 1974–1979) Gossip Girl (CW, 2007–) Grey’s Anatomy (ABC, 2005–) Hancock’s Half Hour (BBC, 1956–1960) Hercules: the Legendary Journeys (Universal, 1995–1999) Heroes (NBC, 2006–) Highlander (Syndicated, 1992–1998) Hill Street Blues (NBC, 1981–1987) Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–2000) Homicide: Second Shift (1997–2000) The Honeymooners (CBS, 1955–1956) I Love Lucy (CBS, 1951–1957) I Spy (NBC, 1965–1968) In The Night Garden (BBC, 2007) Into the Labyrinth (HTV, 1980–1982) Invasion (ABC, 2005–2006) Ivor the Engine (A-R, 1959, BBC, 1975) Jericho (CBS, 2006–2008) Jerry Springer Show, The (Syndicated, 1991–) The Jeffersons (CBS, 1975–1985) Joan of Arcadia (CBS, 2003–2005) Kidnapped (NBC, 2006) Kolchak: The Night Stalker (ABC, 1974)

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The L Word (Showtime, 2004–) Larry Sanders Show. The (HBO, 1992–1998) Lou Grant (CBS, 1977–1982) Life (NBC, 2007–) Life on Mars (BBC, 2006–2007) Ludwig (BBC/Q3, 1975) Lost (ABC, 2004–) Lyon’s Den, The (NBC, 2003) Mad Men (AMC, 2007–) Magic Roundabout, The (BBC 1965–1969, 1972–1975) Magnum P.I. (CBS, 1980–1988) Man from UNCLE, The (NBC, 1964–1968) Man in a Suitcase (ITV, 1967–1968) Mary Tyler Moore Show, The (CBS, 1970–1977) MASH (CBS, 1972–1983) Medium (NBC, 2005–) Miami Vice (NBC, 1984–1989) Monty Python’s Flying Circus (BBC, 1969–1974) Most Haunted (Living TV, 2002–) Moon Stallion, The (BBC, 1978) Moonlighting (ABC, 1985–1989) Muffin the Mule (BBC, 1946) My So-Called Life (ABC, 1994–1995) Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Comedy Central/Sci-Fi Channel, 1988–1999) New Avengers, The (ITV, 1976–1977) Newsnight (BBC, 1980–) Night Gallery (NBC, 1970–1973) Nine, The (ABC, 2006) Nip/Tuck (FX, 2003–) Northern Exposure (CBS, 1990–1995) NYPD Blue (ABC 1993–2005) O.C., The (Fox, 2003–2007) Office, The (BBC, 2001–2003) Outer Limits, The (ABC, 1963–1965; Showtime 1995–2002). Over There (FX, 2005) Owl Service¸ The (Granada, 1969) Panorama (BBC, 1953–) Patterns (NBC, 1955) Picket Fences (CBS, 1992–1996).

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Play School (BBC2 1964–1988) Pogles, The (BBC 1965) Police Surgeon (ITV, 1960) Practice, The (ABC, 1997–2004) Primeval (ITV, 2007–) Prison Break (Fox, 2005–) Prisoner, The (ITV, 1967–1968) Professionals, The (ITV, 1977–1983) Pushing Daisies (ABC, 2007–2009) Quantum Leap (NBC, 1989–1993) Quatermass (BBC, 1979) Quatermass Experiment (BBC, 1953) Quatermass Experiment (BBC, 2005) Quatermass II (BBC, 1955) Quatermass and the Pit (BBC, 1958–1959) Queer as Folk UK (Channel 4, 1999) Queer as Folk US (Showtime, 2000–2005) Question Time (BBC, 1979–) Red Dwarf (BBC, 1988–) Remington Steele (NBC, 1982–1987) Requiem for a Heavyweight (CBS, 1956) Rescue Me (FX, 2004) Roobarb (BBC, 1975) Robinson Crusoe (BBC, 1965) Roseanne (ABC, 1988–1997) Roswell (WB, 1999–2002) Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In (NBC, 1968–1973) Saga of Noggin the Nog, The (BBC, 1964–1971) Saint, The (ITV, 1962–1969) Sanctuary (online, 2007) (Sci-Fi, 2008–) Sapphire & Steel (ITV, 1979–1982) Saturday Night Live (NBC, 1975–) Seinfeld (NBC, 1990–1998) Sesame Street (CTW, 1969–) Sex and the City (HBO, 1998–2004) Shadows (ITV, 1975–1978) Shield, The (FX, 2002–2008) Shut up and Dance (Bravo, 2008) Simpsons, The (Fox, 1989–) Singing Ringing Tree, The (UFA, 1955)

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Six Feet Under (HBO, 2001–2005) Smallville (WB/CW, 2001–) Soap (ABC, 1977–1981) Sopranos, The (HBO, 1999–2007) South Park (Comedy Central, 1997–) Spin City (ABC, 1996–2002) Spooks (BBC, 2002–) SpungeBob SquarePants (Nickelodeon, 1999–) St. Elsewhere (NBC, 1982–1988) Stargate SG–1 (Showtime, 1997–2002, Sci-Fi, 2002–2006) Star Trek (NBC, 1966–1969) Star Trek: The Next Generation [Syndicated; 1987–1994] Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Paramount Pictures, 1993–1999) Star Trek: Voyager (UPN, 1995–2001) Starved (FX, 2005) State of Play (BBC, 2003) Supernatural (WB/CW, 2005–) Survivors (BBC, 1975–1977) Sweeney, The (ITV, 1975–1978) Teletubbies (BBC, 1997–2001) Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Fox, 2008–2009) Thirtysomething (ABC, 1987–1991) Thunderbirds (ATV, 1965–1966) Tomorrow People, The (ITV, 1973–1979) Tonight (BBC, 1957) Torchwood (BBC, 2006–) Trailer Park Boys (Paramount Comedy, 2001–) Tru Calling (Fox, 2003–2005) Tudors, The (BBC, 2007) Tutti Frutti (BBC, 1973) Twilight Zone, The (CBS, 1959–1965) Twin Peaks (ABC, 1990–1991) Vanished (Fox, 2006) Veronica Mars (UPN/CW, 2004–2007) Wagon Train (NBC, 1957–1962, ABC, 1962–1965) Waltons, The (CBS, 1972–1981) War Game, The (BBC, 1965) Weeds (Showtime, 2005–) West Wing, The (NBC, 1999–2006)

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Wild Palms (ABC, 1993) Will and Grace (NBC, 1998–2006) Wire, The (HBO, 2002–2008) Wishbone (PBS, 1995–1998) Wonderfalls (FOX, 2004) X-Factor, The (ITV, 2004–) X-Files, The (FOX, 1993–2002), Xena: Warrior Princess (Syndicated, 1995–2001) Yak (Yorkshire, 1972) Z Cars (BBC, 1962–1965, 1967–1978) Zoo Time (Granada 1956–1968)

Film 21 grams (Alejandro González Iñárritu, US, 2003) Alien vs Predator (Paul W.S. Anderson, US, 2004) Ali G in Da House (Mark Mylod, UK, 2002) American Beauty (Sam Mendes, US, 1999) Asphalt Jungle, The (John Huston, US, 1950) Avengers, The (Jeremiah Chechik, GB, 1998) Banger Sisters, The (Bob Dolman, US, 2002) Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, US, 1982) Blair Witch Project, The (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, US, 1999) Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Larry Charles, US, 2006) Carrie (Brian DePalma, US, 1976) Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, US, 1943) Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, US, 1941) Clash of the Titans (Desmond Davis, US, 1981) Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Steven Spielberg, US, 1977) Cloverfield (Matt Reeves, US, 2008) Diary of the Dead (George Romero, US, 2008) Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, US, 1944)

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Television and Film Guide

Galaxy Quest (Dean Parisot, US, 1999) Golden Compass, The (Chris Weitz, US, 2007) Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, GB, 1964) Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, US, 1993) Hellboy (Guillermo del Toro, US, 2004) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Steven Spielberg, US, 2008) Jason and the Argonauts (Don Chaffey, UK/US, 1963) Murder My Sweet (Edward Dmytryk, US, 1944) On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (Peter R. Hunt, GB, 1969) Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, The (Gore Verbinski, US, 2003) Planet of the Apes (Franklin J. Shaffner,US, 1968) Postman Always Rings Twice, The (Tay Garnett, US, 1946) Quatermass Conclusion, The (Piers Haggard, UK, 1979) Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, JP, 1950) [Rec] (Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, Sp, 2007) River’s Edge (Tim Hunter, US, 1986) Riviere du hibou, La (Robert Henrico, Fr, 1962) Rocketeer, The (Joe Johnston, US, 1991) Rocky Horror Picture Show, The (Jim Sharman, UK/US, 1975) Sex and the City: The Movie (Michael Patrick King, US, 2008) South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (Matt Parker and Trey Stone, 1999) Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Robert Wise, US, 1979) Star Trek XI (J.J. Abrams, US, 2009) Star Wars (George Lucas, US, 1977) Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, US, 1958) Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (Clattenburg, CA, 2006) Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch, US, 1992)

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Index

24 26, 227, 230 30 Rock 45 1984 228 4400, The 12, 17 Abbott, Stacey 36, 39, 91, 98, 99, 100, 106, 119, 128, 205 Abrams, J.J. 11, 13, 14, 231 Ace of Wands 239 Adams Family, The 2 Adventures of Robin Hood, The 168 Akass, Kim 156, 158 Alias 11, 14, 25, 36, 37–38, 62, 91, 123, 126–127, 185, 207, 229, 231 Alien Autopsy: (Fact of Fiction?) 97 All in the Family 139 Ally McBeal 26, 158 American Gothic 72 An Age of Kings 226, 231 Andy Pandy 168, 169, 170 Angel 23, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 91, 93, 94, 96, 98, 99, 106, 110, 111, 112, 114–116, 123, 127, 191, 205, 247 Angelini, Sergio 19, 28, 41, 86, 92, 103, 239 auteur 16, 17, 26, 55, 87, 126, 188 Avengers, The (TV) 37, 39, 61–65, 105, 154; Avengers, The (film) 39, 65 Babylon 5 16, 25–26, 37, 41–43, 109, 110, 182, 206 Bagpuss 172, 175–177 Battis, Jes 77, 84, 113 Battlestar Galactica (1978–79) 183; Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009) 14, 15–16, 20, 24–25, 43, 45, 49, 52, 73, 94, 110, 117–119, 133, 209, 215, 218, 236, 237; and

new media technologies 182, 183–185; and realism 46–48, 50–51, 112; and visual style 34, 46–48, 91–92; Battlestar Galactica: Razor 118, 183 BBC 2, 11, 20, 27, 67, 94, 108, 136, 145–146, 150–152, 153, 164–166, 167–174, 175, 177, 179, 183–185, 186, 187, 189–190, 226, 230 233 Beauty and the Beast 34 Beavis and Butthead 200 Beeler, Stan 20, 55 Beverley Hillbillies, The 139 Beverley Hills 90210 142 Bewitched 193 Big Brother 68, 180 Bill, The 70 Black Adder 2 Blake’s 7 21, 67, 91, 235 Bleak House 94 Blue Peter 122, 170 Booy, Miles 19, 28, 86, 189 Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan 222–223 Boris the Bold 172 Brown, Simon 36, 67, 93, 143, 145, 155, 163 Buffy the Vampire Slayer 9, 11, 12, 15, 23, 24, 30, 37–38, 39, 48, 50, 51, 52, 70, 73, 96, 98, 100–102, 113,114–115, 116, 136, 143, 158, 182, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 197, 205, 206, 229, 230, 231, 236, 244–245, 246, 247; and gender/ sexuality 25, 62, 81–82, 108, 110, 111–112; and music/sound 25, 62, 81–82, 108, 110, 111–112

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Index Cagney and Lacey 15 Californication 93, 161, 162 Carnivale 3, 93, 99 Carter, Chris 81, 231 Casablanca 27, 41, 168 celebrity 68, 177, 189, 199, 200, 210, 233–238, 243 Charmed 23, 124 Chuck 229, 231 Clangers, The 2, 175–176 Commish, The 159 Corner, The 79 Criminal Minds 218 Cruise of the Gods 235 Crystal Tipps and Alistair 172 CSI 160 cult film 7–8, 31, 35, 91, 168 cult television (definitions of) 2–3, 7–9, 19–20, 31–32, 36–37, 45–53, 67–73, 91, 108, 121, 135, 155–156, 168, 173, 225–231 Curb Your Enthusiasm 48 Curtis, Dan 205, 206 Da Ali G Show 221–223; Ali G in Da House 222 Daily Show, The 155, 162 Danger Man (US title Secret Agent) 103 Danger Mouse 172 Dark Angel 110, 123 Dark Shadows 2, 31, 205–207 Davies, Russell T. 146, 182, 231, 233, 237, 246 Davy Crockett 170 Dawson’s Creek 70, 73 Dead Famous 96 Deadwood 26, 158 Desperate Housewives 160, 211–212 Dexter 83, 93, 160–162, 163 Doctor Who 20, 21–22, 26–27, 30, 31, 38, 41, 77, 94, 108, 109, 123, 146, 154, 170, 189–190, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 233, 234, 237,

240, 241, 246; and new media technologies 179, 182, 183–185 documentary 34, 47, 84, 101, 123, 175, 184 Dollhouse 14, 36, 182, 192, 218 Dragnet 163 Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog 187–188 DVD 2, 3, 11, 46, 48, 53, 69, 79, 82, 83, 92, 134, 149, 152, 155, 156, 171, 172, 175, 177, 179–188, 193, 197, 207, 211, 212, 222, 226–227, 228, 230, 233 Eco, Umberto 19, 20–21, 22, 27, 32, 168–169 Eli Stone 127 Ellen 78 Enterprise See Star Trek: Enterprise Epstein, Michael 142, 147, 148, 149, 155, 156–157, 162 Espenson, Jane 32, 45, 195 Extras 48 Family Guy 48, 200 fandom 1–3, 9,10, 16, 50, 67, 70–71, 75, 91, 131, 147, 166, 205, 207, 209–220, 235–237, 238, 243, 244, 247 fans and the internet 74, 133, 134, 177, 186, 194, 195, 201, 209, 212, 215, 218–220, 225, 228, 229, 243; fan clubs 228, 231, 236; fan conventions 1, 10, 53, 134, 207, 227, 234, 235, 236, 244fan fiction 16, 39, 53, 70, 78, 111, 180, 195, 207, 216, 217, 220, 229, 241, 243–247; fan practices 8, 13, 15, 69, 70, 134, 135, 150, 167, 180, 181, 182, 186, 187, 188, 210; fan videos 180, 186, 216, 220, 244; fanzines 180, 207, 219, 237, 21, 132, 244 See Slash Fiction

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Index fantasy 2, 7, 12, 19–20, 28, 32, 37, 43, 51, 56, 61, 63, 64, 70, 77, 93, 103, 114, 123, 137, 138, 152, 170–171, 173, 182, 190, 240 See also telefantasy Farscape 35, 77, 82, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113 Father Ted 244 Fear Itself 90 Femme Nikita, La 25 Feuer, Jane 15, 16, 23, 139–140, 153 Fingerbobs 172 Firefly 3, 34, 36, 38, 39, 47, 49, 51, 111, 125–126, 182, 192, 231 Flintstones, The 2 Flower Pot Men 168, 170 Fox Network 13–14, 41, 81, 97, 142–143, 153, 157, 158, 159, 163, 219 Fresh Prince of Bel Air, The 122 Friday Night Lights 49, 50, 51 Friends 122 Fringe 14 Frost, Mark 16, 28, 29, 36, 156 FX 158–159, 162 Galaxy Quest 1, 235 Gangsters 22, 25 Gargoyles 82–83, 90 gender, representations of 33, 107, 108, 109, 110–113, 114, 116, 222, 245–246 Ghost Whisperer 192 Gilmore Girls 50 Good Times 78 Gossip Girl 75, 231 Grey’s Anatomy 74–75 Gwenllian-Jones, Sara 7–8, 9, 17, 23, 26, 31–32, 33, 36–37, 38, 39, 107–108, 133, 206, 234 Halfyard, Janet K. 32, 33, 121, 123, 127 Hancock’s Half Hour 226

HBO 9, 15, 17, 26, 79, 84, 143, 147, 148–150, 158, 159, 161, 162, 212–213, 221–223 Hercules: The Legendary Journeys 123, 127 Heroes 9, 12–14, 35, 38–39, 71–72, 73, 112, 123, 127, 145, 185, 230 Highlander 191, 194–195 Hill Street Blues 10,15, 16, 22, 108, 140–141, 153, 157, 158 Hills, Matt 14, 16, 67,70, 73, 134, 139, 144, 146, 210–211, 213–214, 216, 220, 233, 235, 236–237, 238 Homicide: Life on the Street 79, 182; Homicide: Second Shift 182 Honeymooners, The 77 horror 2, 20, 32, 57, 63, 70, 72, 87–89, 90, 93, 95–96, 98, 107, 112, 115, 150–151, 162, 182, 194, 205–207 Hunt, Nathan 8, 9, 16, 17, 67, 73, 91, 155–156, 233, 238 I Love Lucy 77 I Spy 78 In The Night Garden 169 Into the Labyrinth 171 Invasion 3, 72–73 ITV 104, 136, 145–146, 152, 153, 167–174, 189, 227, 239 Ivor the Engine 175 Jancovich, Mark 8, 9, 16, 17, 67, 73, 91, 155–156 Jeffersons, The 77–78 Jenkins, Henry 69, 70–71, 72, 131, 133, 137, 181–183, 185–186, 187, 188, 216, 217, 220 Jericho 218 Joan of Arcadia 82, 192 Johnson, Catherine 16, 17, 69, 70, 71, 79, 119, 135, 137, 143, 147, 148, 149, 150, 154, 156–157, 158, 160, 162, 228, 234

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Index Jowett, Lorna 113, 114

94, 107, 112,

Kerr, Paul 15, 23, 139–140, 153 Kidnapped 12 Kneale, Nigel 150, 151 Kolchak: The Night Stalker 163 Larry Sanders Show, The 26 Life 75 Life on Mars 25, 229, 231 Lost 3, 9, 11–14, 26, 33, 34, 45–46, 72, 73, 75, 133, 143–144, 146, 153, 163, 185, 218, 220, 224, 228, 230, 231 Lou Grant 140 Ludwig 172 L Word, The 160 Lynch, David 16, 23, 28, 30, 36, 91 Lyon’s Den, The 25 Mad Men 51 Magic Roundabout, The 167, 171–172, 175 Magnum P.I. 25 Man from UNCLE, The 137, 228, 230, 231 Man in a Suitcase 104 Mary Tyler Moore Show, The 15, 139–140 MASH 93–94 McCabe, Janet 156, 158, 164 McGoohan, Patrick 103–105, 105 Medium 72, 73 Mendik, Xavier 91, 155–156 Messenger-Davies, Marie 7, 9–10, 17 Miami Vice 77, 81 Moffat, Steven 179, 233 Monty Python’s Flying Circus 2, 21 Moon Stallion, The 171 Moonlighting 25, 95 Moore, Ron 43, 49, 117, 184, 236, 237 Muffin the Mule 167, 170 music 32–34, 39, 75, 94, 100, 101, 121–128, 171,172,173, 177, 189, 231, 233, 240

My So-Called Life 51, 82 Mystery Science Theater 3000

142

Nelson, Robin 92–93, 99, 157, 162 New Avengers, The 61, 64–65 Night Gallery 58 Nine, The 12 Nip/Tuck 159 Northern Exposure 23, 30, 33, 36, 38, 39 NYPD Blue 108 O.C., The 25 Office, The 48 On Her Majesty’s Secret Service 64 Outer Limits, The 20 Over There 20, 159 Owl Service¸ The 171 Patterns 19–20, 56 Pearson, Roberta E. 2, 7, 8, 9–10, 17, 31–32, 33, 36–37, 38, 39, 69, 107–108, 133, 155, 206, 234 Picket Fences 23 Planet of the Apes 58 Play School 169, 170, 173 Pogles, The 177 Police Surgeon 61 Postgate, Oliver 175–177 Practice, The 158 Primeval 189, 229 Prison Break 26 Prisoner, The 21, 22, 25, 34–35, 42, 92, 96, 103–105, 227, 231, 241 Professionals, The 65 Pushing Daisies 127, 163 Quality TV 3, 10, 14–16, 17, 23, 69, 72, 73, 107, 116, 122, 139–143, 148–150, 155–162, 233 Quantum Leap 164 Quatermass serials 150–152, 228; Quatermass 151–152; Quatermass Conclusion, The 151–152;

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Index Quatermass serials – continued Quatermass Experiment (1953) 150, 151, 152, Quatermass Experiment (2005) 152, Quatermass II 150–151, Quatermass and the Pit 150; Queer as Folk UK 78, 125–126, 127; Queer as Folk US 78–79, 93, 99, 124, 159–160, 161 Race, representations of 41, 56, 77–78, 80–81, 82, 107, 108–110, 112–113, 114, 116, 119, 134, 222 Rashomon 38, 97 realism 20, 33, 35, 47–35, 56, 57, 61, 64, 70, 74, 93, 97, 108, 110, 112, 114, 115, 149, 158, 187, 191, 193, 195, 223 Red Dwarf 164 Reeves, Jimmie L. 142, 147, 148, 149, 155, 156–157, 162 Remington Steele 25 Requiem for a Heavyweight 19–20 Rescue Me 159 Richards, Denzell 146, 179, 185 Robinson Crusoe 171 Robson, Hillary 74, 209, 221 Roddenberry, Gene 78, 108, 109, 131, 132, 134, 136–137, 152, 164 Rogers, Mark C. 142, 147, 148, 149, 155, 156–157, 162 Roobarb 175 Roseanne 25 Roswell 34, 37, 124 Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In 64 Saga of Noggin the Nog, The 175 Saint, The 103 Sanctuary 187 Sapphire & Steel 22, 239–241 Saturday Night Live 1, 211 science fiction (SF) 1, 2, 37, 20, 41–42, 50, 51, 53, 57, 70,

72–72, 82, 105, 156, 157, 164, 209, 226, 227, 240, 244 Sconce, Jeffrey 31, 91, 93 Seinfeld 1 Serling, Rod 19–20, 21, 55–57, 58 Sesame Street 2, 169, 173, 175 Sex and the City (TV) 1, 26, 93, 99, 158, 212–213, 214, 215; Sex and the City: The Movie 213–214 sexuality, representations of 78–79, 81, 99, 90,107, 108, 110–113, 114, 116, 245–246 Shadows 239 Shield, The 158–159 Showtime 83, 87–90, 159–160 Simpsons, The 2, 142, 153, 164, 199, 200 Singing Ringing Tree, The 172 Six Feet Under 25, 149, 158, 159, 161 Slashfiction 78, 111, 243, 245–246 See Fan Fiction Smallville 36, 95, 108, 111, 112, 124, 191, 218, 229, 231 Sopranos, The 1, 9, 17, 26, 49, 51, 79, 124, 143, 147, 148–150, 158, 159, 162 South Park 2, 48, 155, 199– 201; South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut 199 Spin City 122 SpongeBob Square Pants 2 Spooks 146, 154, 229 Stargate SG-1 209 Star Trek Franchise 7, 9–10, 12, 43, 51, 72, 98, 113, 123–124, 124, 127, 128, 131–134, 156, 206, 207, 227, 230, 234, 235, 236; Star Trek: The Original Series 1, 20–21, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41, 53, 78, 91, 98–99, 108–109, 110, 126, 134, 145, 152, 153, 164, 211, 216, 217, 229, 240, 241; and

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Index cancellation 9–10, 131–132, 137; and syndication 136– 139, 142; Star Trek: The Next Generation 10, 25, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 52, 132, 164; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 10, 98–99, 111, 132–133; Star Trek: Voyager 10, 133; Star Trek: Enterprise 10, 25, 124–125, 126, 133, 234; Star Trek: The Motion Picture 128, 132; Star Trek XI 10 Starved 159 State of Play 227 St. Elsewhere 15, 22–23, 25 Straczynski, J. Michael 25, 26, 37, 41, 42, 43 Supernatural 95–96, 98, 101, 123, 127, 185, 192, 207 Survivors 235 Sweeney, The 239 syndication 10, 41, 58, 81, 136–139, 142, 145–146, 153, 155, 207 telefantasy 2, 70, 71, 72, 73, 93, 98, 99, 147 See also fantasy Teletubbies 169, 172 Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 25 Thirtysomething 78 Thunderbirds 103, 170 Tomorrow People, The 189 Torchwood 49, 229, 230, 236 Trailer Park Boys 84–86, 90; Trailer Park Boys: The Movie 86 Tru Calling 46 Tudors, The 51 Tulloch, John 131, 137 Tutti Frutti 226, 231 Twilight Zone, The 19–20, 30, 33, 37, 55–58

Twin Peaks 16, 23–24, 28–30, 32, 34, 35, 37, 39, 78, 91, 97, 110, 123, 156, 157, 164; Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me 30 UPN

10, 100, 141

Vahimagi, Tise 15, 23, 139–140, 153 Vanished 12 Veronica Mars 37, 82, 124, 192 Wagon Train 137, 152 War Game, The 20 WB 100, 114, 141, 142, 143 Weeds 93, 160, 161, 162 West Wing, The 23, 26, 94, 160 Whedon, Joss 14, 34, 36, 37, 70, 78, 82, 100, 111, 116, 125, 126, 182, 187, 188, 192, 193, 195, 197, 218, 231, 247 Wilcox, Rhonda V. 31, 33, 36, 39, 91 Wild Palms (ABC, 1993) Will and Grace 29, 163 Wire, The 78, 122 Wonderfalls Wood, Tat 145, 167, 172, 175, 190 Xena: Warrior Princess 25, 31, 33, 36, 111, 123, 127, 234, 243, 245 X-Files, The 3, 9, 11, 13–14, 15, 16, 17, 23–24, 30, 32, 34, 35, 39, 41, 69, 73, 81, 91, 96–98, 100, 101, 110, 112, 146, 147, 161, 229; and Quality Television 156, 158; and the Fox Network 142–143, 153, 157, 159, 163; on the BBC 67, 145, 164–166 Yak

172

Z Cars 239 Zoo Time 169

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